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Mike Shanahan’s Washington Redskins regime has unspooled like a toilet-paper roll in that old Peter Sellers comedy, The Party.

Only nobody in Washington is laughing.

The Redskins have been Team Melodrama since picking Robert Griffin III No. 2 overall in last year’s draft. For whatever reason, it has been continual.

Sunday’s developments topped everything -- as surreal as the climactic scene in The Party when hippies parade their painted elephant into a suds-filled living-room pool.

First, an ESPN report in the morning claimed Shanahan -- the Skins’ executive vice-president and head coach -- considered quitting after last season because he deemed owner Dan Snyder’s relationship with RG3 to be too close and potentially disruptive to team unity.

Only when RG3 blew out his knee in the playoff loss to the Seattle Seahawks did Shanahan change his mind, not wanting to leave under such a circumstance.

The Washington Post then upped the drama Sunday afternoon, reporting that “members” of the Redskins front office were “angered” by the ESPN report, “questioned the timing and motivation behind those sentiments becoming public,” and were “skeptical” that the relationship between Shanahan and Snyder “can be repaired to enable Shanahan to possibly remain with the team” after the season.

After his Redskins were annihilated 45-10 by the Kansas City Chiefs, which dropped Washington to 3-10, Shanahan didn’t bother waiting for a question about the matter. He opened his post-game news conference by saying:

“This is not the right time or place to talk about my relationship with Dan Snyder. It’s not the right time or place to talk about something that happened a year ago. I’ll get a chance to talk to Dan at the end of the season. I’ll give him some viewpoints from me, and I’m sure he’ll give me his thoughts on what direction we’ll go, and so we’ll communicate that at the proper time.”

Previously this season, Shanahan has quickly and hotly denied stories he claimed were untrue. He not only refused to refute ESPN’s report, he practically confirmed it by admitting “something” happened a year ago.

Of his team’s pitiful performance against the Chiefs -- which saw K.C. take a 31-0 lead with 9:45 still to play in the first half -- Shanahan said:

“I take full responsibility for this game today. I didn’t have the players ready to play.”

If all that doesn’t have Snyder on the verge of firing Shanahan, the smallest crowd in the 16-year history of FedEx Field (56,247) might. Tweeted photos at the start of the third quarter showed a virtually empty stadium.

For his part, Griffin said he’s “getting frustrated” by all the “non-football” drama enveloping the team. Asked for his comment on the charge that Snyder affords him special privileges, Griffin said:

“I’m not going to talk about that stuff, guys. It’s just not even relevant to the football game. It’s not relevant to my life … It’s ridiculous.”

NFL Network reported that Snyder was reportedly so “pissed” Sunday with the current state of the organization that some members of the team were bracing for Shanahan’s imminent firing.

HERE COME THE NINERS

Just when everybody had anointed the Seattle Seahawks as the unquestioned team to beat in next month’s NFC playoffs, the San Francisco 49ers said, ‘Hold on a second.’

Jim Harbaugh’s Niners did everything they couldn’t do in their past two games against Pete Carroll’s Seahawks -- games Seattle won by the combined score of 71-16.

Namely, the Niners got a few big plays in the run game, enough effective and accurate passing from Colin Kaepernick and stifling plays all game long from their continually improving defence to pull out a 19-17 victory at Candlestick Park.

Seattle’s Marshawn Lynch rushed 20 times for only 72 yards, and quarterback Russell Wilson was held to 199 yards passing and two yards rushing.

Kaepernick connected with Anquan Boldin six times for 93 yards, and with Michael Crabtree four times for 40. Crabtree had just returned from an off-season Achilles tear.

Boldin said that Crabtree’s presence in the Niners receiving corps compelled the Seahawks to use “different looks” in coverage from what they’d employed in their big 29-3 win at Seattle in September.

With Seattle ahead 17-16 late in the fourth quarter, the key play on San Francisco’s game-winning, 76-yard drive was Frank Gore’s 51-yard run. He burst through a left-side hole then made a fantastic hard cut to the right in front of Seattle safety Earl Thomas and was in the clear until cornerback Richard Sherman chased him down at the Seattle 18.

The Niners, 9-4, probably won’t catch the 11-2 Seahawks to win the NFC West, but they remain one game ahead of the 8-5 Arizona Cardinals (who crushed the New York Giants 37-14) in the chase for a wildcard playoff berth.

Better than that, the Niners proved they might be as formidable as the Seahawks, who had won seven straight.

Don’t be surprised if these teams wind up playing in the NFC championship game Jan. 19, just as most experts predicted before the season.

WHITE-OUTS

While snow was an issue in Green Bay, Pittsburgh and Washington, the first halves of the Detroit-at-Philadelphia and Minnesota-at-Baltimore games were played in blizzards.

Philly got the worst of it. By halftime, six inches of snow covered Lincoln Financial Field -- eight inches by the fourth quarter.

Play was comical at times. The Eagles couldn’t gain a yard in the first quarter. Lions quarterback Matt Stafford fumbled five snaps. Neither team attempted a field goal and went for two after touchdowns because placekicking wasn’t an option.

Detroit used two kick-return touchdowns by Jeremy Ross to jump ahead by two scores in the third quarter, but the Eagles completely dominated play in the fourth.

Whether the Lions -- who play indoors at home -- had had enough of the snow, or were just leg-weary (playing in deep snow takes a lot more out of you), they couldn’t stop simple inside handoffs by the end.

LeSean McCoy set an Eagles franchise record with 217 yards rushing, 148 of which came in the fourth quarter.

The Eagles improved to 8-5 and will sit alone in first place in the NFC East if the Dallas Cowboys lose Monday night to the Bears in Chicago.

The Lions, 7-6, now hold only a half-game lead over 6-6-1 Green Bay in the NFC North, with Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers close to returning. Uh oh.

GRONK OUT AGAIN

Another Sunday of big injuries:

Vikings running back Adrian Peterson (mid-foot sprain)

Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski (suspected ACL tear in right knee)

Broncos wide receiver Wes Welker (suspected concussion)

Cardinals cornerback Tyrann Mathieu (suspected ACL tear in left knee)

Lions running back Reggie Bush didn’t even play at Philly after aggravating a calf injury in warmups.

IN THE PLAYOFFS

The Denver Broncos and Indianapolis Colts both clinched playoff berths, the former impressively, as Peyton Manning completed a team-record 39 passes for 397 yards and four touchdowns in Denver’s 51-28 win over Tennessee. The Titans’ loss allowed Indy to clinch the AFC South, even though the Colts lost 42-28 in Cincinnati to the Bengals.

Also of note in the Broncos win, Denver place kicker Matt Prater set an NFL record for longest field goal with a 64-yard boot to end the first half.

CRAZY FINISH

The Patriots had no business defeating the Browns, but they did, 27-26. Down 26-14 with 2:39 left, Tom Brady led New England down the field for a touchdown -- a two-yard pass to Julian Edelman with 1:01 left. The Pats then recovered Stephen Gostkowski’s onside kick. Brady then threw incomplete into the end zone to rookie wideout Josh Boyce, but on a horrible call Cleveland’s Leon McFadden was flagged for pass interference with 35 seconds left.

Cleveland had a chance to win it on a last-play 58-yard field goal from Billy Cundiff -- who’d infamously hooked a short field goal in the AFC championship game at Gillette Stadium two years ago. But Cundiff’s kick came up just short.

AFC WILDCARD

The Baltimore Ravens’ completely crazy 29-26 victory over the Minnesota Vikings -- in which the teams scored four touchdowns in the final two minutes -- has them leading the chase for the second AFC wildcard spot at 7-6.

The Miami Dolphins are also 7-6 after a wild 34-28 win against the Steelers in Pittsburgh, but Baltimore wins the first tiebreaker after having won in Miami in October.

The New York Jets and San Diego Chargers are a game back at 6-7. Pittsburgh and the Tennessee Titans are just about out of it at 5-8.

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Redskins coach Mike Shanahan in deep trouble after surreal day

Mike Shanahan’s Washington Redskins regime has unspooled like a toilet-paper roll in that old Peter Sellers comedy, The Party.

Only nobody in Washington is laughing.

The Redskins have been Team Melodrama since picking Robert Griffin III No. 2 overall in last year’s draft. For whatever reason, it has been continual.

Sunday’s developments topped everything -- as surreal as the climactic scene in The Party when hippies parade their painted elephant into a suds-filled living-room pool.

First, an ESPN report in the morning claimed Shanahan -- the Skins’ executive vice-president and head coach -- considered quitting after last season because he deemed owner Dan Snyder’s relationship with RG3 to be too close and potentially disruptive to team unity.

Only when RG3 blew out his knee in the playoff loss to the Seattle Seahawks did Shanahan change his mind, not wanting to leave under such a circumstance.